November 1, 2024

By Allie Gibson, MPH, MCP, Alina Schnake-Mahl, ScD, MPH, and Jennifer Kolker, MPH.

Hot Topics in Urban Policy and Health: Health and the Election, A News Roundup: This UHC Policy Core blog series highlights important topics in urban policy that have implications for health and health equity.

The upcoming presidential election is reflective of the increasingly polarized views held by the US electorate. The past four years have presented a variety of challenges for the field of public health, from the COVID-19 pandemic to Supreme Court decisions, including Dobbs and the recent Chevron regulatory decision. The next president—and their administration—will have the potential to shape the trajectory of public health policy, funding, regulations, and rights.

What follows is a selection of recent coverage on the upcoming election and health. Though health may be impacted in myriad ways depending on the election results, the below articles focused on key policy areas: reproductive rights, immigration and the border policy, health care costs including prescription drugs, and the state of existing federal agencies like the CDC and EPA.

Overview of Health, Politics, and the 2024 Election

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a broad overview article, Health and the 2024 Election, summarizing a variety of JAMA and JAMA network articles that address the health and health care issues at stake in the election. For example, one article focuses on Project 2025’s plans around the ACA and fertility coverage, while another emphasizes the importance of local elections for health. The article provides highlights of these articles and links to each article.

A recent National Public Radio (NPR) podcast details the myriad ways in which politics have interacted with and influenced health, health care, and science. This podcast is not specifically focused on the election but does generally cover how politics, including the election, are increasingly shaping health and science.

A Harris White House vs. A Trump White House

An article from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health voices expert opinions on how a number of pressing topics, including gun violence, reproductive rights, and immigration, would be shaped depending on a Harris or Trump presidency.

Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health provides a similar comparative approach, but this article focuses on policy around health care, Medicare and Medicaid, and the opioid epidemic.

Federal Agencies

The election will have huge implications for the CDC, EPA and other health related agencies, given the power of the executive branch to alter or dismantle federal agencies. This piece provides background on the progress the EPA has made over the past four years and all that is at risk of being lost depending on the election outcomes. This opinion piece reviews the potential implications of new leadership in several key public health relevant agencies.

Down Ballot Races and State-Based Policies

Most of the included articles focus on the presidential race, but the Senate, House, and down ballot elections (and ballot provisions, on abortion, minimum wage, and voting rights) also impact public health. For example, the Attorney General of PA has substantial impact on how the state addresses the opioid epidemic, and the two candidates for this position have proposed different approaches.

Reproductive rights are also the focus of several amendments, propositions, and bills on state ballots this election. Missouri, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada all have ballot measures that could impact the rights to abortion access for 45 million people collectively.

From the presidential race to state measures, the 2024 elections have the potential to significantly shape public health and health outcomes in numerous ways. It is important for us all to understand those possible outcomes and how our votes, and the work we do, can make an impact.